1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,360 Unfortunately, excitement isn't what sells you. As the expert might know really well 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,400 what they need to solve the problem that they have, but they're not going 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,880 to get excited about something if they don't think it's even relevant to them. 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,879 So instead, your launch is about educating them, educating them through the magician's 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,679 gap. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm Steph Taylor. For years, I 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,480 read all the books, downloaded all the freebies, and did all the courses, 7 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,119 but it wasn't until I started taking imperfect action that my business had its 8 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:38,159 first million dollars. Here, imperfect action is about doing things before you're ready, 9 00:00:38,399 --> 00:00:43,840 prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and moving forward even when you're not 10 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,240 sure you're doing it right. On this show, you can expect mindset advice, 11 00:00:48,439 --> 00:00:52,920 actionable marketing tips and strategies to build a business that brings you more profit, 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:58,359 more freedom, and even more joy. Are you on the list to 13 00:00:58,399 --> 00:01:02,119 get my daily businesses? Every day, I'll send you a bite sized prompt 14 00:01:02,159 --> 00:01:06,280 designed to help you grow your business in a more intentional way. Sign up 15 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,040 at Steph Taylor dot Co, forward slash DBB, or at the link in 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:15,040 the show notes. Hey, Welcome back to in Perfect Action. This is 17 00:01:15,079 --> 00:01:22,400 episode eight hundred and ten. Today I am sharing the seven big mistakes that 18 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,079 can cost you sales in a launch. So in particular, I'm talking about 19 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:32,760 launches of online courses, group programs, and memberships, but this can apply 20 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:38,959 to essentially any kind of digital product that you are launching. So mistake number 21 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:42,840 one that will cost you sales in a launch is investing so much time into 22 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:49,640 creating the product before you've even sold the first one. I see this all 23 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,040 the time. Somebody will go and they'll start creating a course, and they'll 24 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,680 go off into their course creation cave and they think they know what their audience 25 00:01:57,719 --> 00:02:01,200 wants, so they go and they start creating module, and then they think 26 00:02:01,239 --> 00:02:05,120 about, oh, maybe I should include this thing, maybe I should include 27 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,919 this thing, and they end up going down all of these rabbit holes and 28 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:13,319 it ends up taking them six months, a year, two years to create 29 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,280 this course. Then they come out of the creation cave and they think, 30 00:02:16,319 --> 00:02:19,319 great, I'm going to launch it. I'm going to put it on my 31 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,360 website, I'm going to put it out to my audience and they're going to 32 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:28,080 be so excited about it. And that never happens. They put it out 33 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,039 there and it's crickets. And that's because they spend all of their time creating 34 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:38,400 this incredible product, but they've spent no time launching it. And the only 35 00:02:38,439 --> 00:02:42,360 way to test where the people will actually pay for it is to actually ask 36 00:02:42,439 --> 00:02:46,560 them to pay for it. And I've talked about this previously on the podcast. 37 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,960 Waitlists aren't a great predictor of who is going to buy in your launch. 38 00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:53,120 People telling you that they want what you are creating isn't a great predictor 39 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,840 either, because they might want something, but they might not want it badly 40 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,719 enough to go and spend money on it. They might be telling you, 41 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,080 yeah, of course I want that, and they're doing it because they are 42 00:03:04,439 --> 00:03:06,960 not wanting to hurt your feelings, or they're wanting to be nice, they're 43 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,360 wanting to be supportive. I also believe that if you spend a lot of 44 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:15,039 time creating your product, you're going to be much less likely to be open 45 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:22,360 to pivoting it. So if you spend two years creating an online course and 46 00:03:22,599 --> 00:03:24,280 then you put it out to your audience and they're like, Oh, I 47 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:29,800 really want to learn this in a group program format, you're now going to 48 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,199 be much less likely to change it, or they say, well, we 49 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,080 already know what's in module one and two, but we just want what's module 50 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:42,080 three onwards. You're much less likely now to go and scrap module one and 51 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,479 two and change the messaging around your course because you've invested so much time, 52 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:53,039 you are so invested in the outcome. Mistake Number two that hurts your digital 53 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:58,439 product launches is not doing enough of the audience research or not doing the right 54 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:03,719 audience research. Asking your audience would you buy this is very different to asking 55 00:04:03,759 --> 00:04:08,319 your audience, what are you struggling with? What would the dream solution look 56 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,039 like? How can I help you right? One of them is a simple 57 00:04:12,199 --> 00:04:15,240 yes or no question, and they might give you what you want to hear 58 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:17,680 because they don't want to hurt your feelings, whereas the other one gives you 59 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:23,040 real insight into what's going on in their brains, what they need from you, 60 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,240 how you can help them, how you can create a digital product that 61 00:04:27,519 --> 00:04:32,519 solves whatever they are struggling with. And maybe you've surveyed your audience, but 62 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,160 you've never gone very deep. You've never done one on one zoom calls to 63 00:04:36,199 --> 00:04:42,079 find out what's really going on in their mind. You as the expert, 64 00:04:42,399 --> 00:04:46,240 know what somebody needs, and you're going to go and create your course program 65 00:04:46,319 --> 00:04:51,800 or your membership, giving them what you know they need. But then they 66 00:04:51,879 --> 00:04:55,959 think they need something completely different. So if you go out there and you 67 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,920 sell them what you know they need, they're going to be like, no, 68 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:00,839 thank you, I don't don't need that, I need this other thing. 69 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,079 For example, with offer less sell more, I know my audience needs 70 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,879 a strategic office suite to make more consistent sales. I know that is the 71 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:15,600 solution to making more consistent sales, but my audience thinks that they just need 72 00:05:15,639 --> 00:05:20,560 to reach more people to make more sales. Okay, so this is the 73 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:25,240 magician's gap. This is really what their magician's gap is. In essence, 74 00:05:25,439 --> 00:05:29,879 is the difference between what you know that they need and what they think that 75 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,759 they need. Mistake number three in a launch is trying to get your audience 76 00:05:33,879 --> 00:05:39,920 excited about what you are selling and thinking that this excitement will be what sells, 77 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:46,120 and unfortunately excitement isn't what sells. You as the expert, might know 78 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,879 really well what they need to solve the problem that they have, but they're 79 00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:54,120 not going to get excited about something if they don't think it's even relevant to 80 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,800 them. So instead, your launch is about educating them, educating them through 81 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,319 the magician's gap. And this is something we go really deep into inside Launch 82 00:06:03,399 --> 00:06:08,800 Magic, and I go into the basics of the magician's gap inside Module one 83 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:13,120 of Launch Magic. And in early June, I'm running an exclusive free event 84 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,319 for people who are on the Launch Magic weightlist only where I'll be teaching Module 85 00:06:17,399 --> 00:06:21,319 one live in a zoom call. So if you are not on the waitlist, 86 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,920 make sure you get on the waitlist. DM me on Instagram. I'm 87 00:06:25,959 --> 00:06:30,000 there at stephtaylor dot co. Send me the word magic, just magic, 88 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,000 and I will automatically add you to the waitlist. Or if you're not on 89 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,759 Instagram, you can get on the waitlist at stephtaylor dot co. Slash Magic 90 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:43,319 with offer less sel more. The magician's gap here is me showing them how 91 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:48,000 reaching more people isn't the solution to making more consistent sales and illustrating how they're 92 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:57,279 offer suite is the solution. Okay. The next mistake people make when launching 93 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,079 their digital product is going straight to ever What do I mean by evergreen? 94 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,879 So when I say evergreen, that means doors are always open, it's always 95 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:10,560 available to buy. Most people think of Evergreen as just putting it on their 96 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,920 website and leaving there. But this doesn't work because there's no deadline for somebody 97 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,519 to buy, and without a deadline, they're going to keep putting off buying 98 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:25,279 for as long as possible, especially in the current the current environment, I've 99 00:07:25,319 --> 00:07:29,759 noticed that there have been more people sitting on the fence of my launches until 100 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,199 the very last minute and then buying right before doors close, and that's because 101 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,399 they're taking longer to make a decision, they're being more discerning about what they're 102 00:07:38,439 --> 00:07:43,639 buying and having a deadline. It's not about pressuring somebody into making a decision, 103 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,360 but it's about saying, hey, you need to decide by this date. 104 00:07:47,519 --> 00:07:51,160 Are you in or are you out? You can't keep procrastinating it, 105 00:07:51,199 --> 00:07:56,560 putting it off because you're not going to have more time or more money or 106 00:07:56,959 --> 00:08:00,399 whatever thing you think you're going to have next week that you don't already have 107 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:05,920 this week. Evergreen also doesn't really work, or going straight to Evergreen doesn't 108 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,079 really work because you're only getting a small number of people through at a time. 109 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,800 You're not getting one hundred people through your webinar. You're not getting fifty 110 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,680 people through your webinar. You're not getting fifty people looking at your sales page. 111 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:24,120 You're not really getting meaningful stats or feedback on what needs tweaking. Okay, 112 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,360 if you can get a huge chunk of people through in one go, 113 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,720 now you know, Okay, this webinar is not converting well. Or lots 114 00:08:31,759 --> 00:08:33,480 of people are signing up for the webinar, but nobody's showing up. Lots 115 00:08:33,519 --> 00:08:37,679 of people are looking at the sales page, but nobody's signing up. And 116 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,320 then we can look at those stats, and we can look at the feedback 117 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:45,960 that they give us and implement that to make tweaks in the future. Another 118 00:08:46,039 --> 00:08:50,320 reason why it doesn't work is because most of the time I have noticed when 119 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:52,639 people say, oh, I'm putting this on Evergreen, it literally means they 120 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,159 are putting it on their website and leaving it there, and there's no sales 121 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:01,600 process. It's a sales page and a checkout and that's it. There's nowhere 122 00:09:01,639 --> 00:09:07,159 for them to get their objections addressed. There's no actual sales process. There's 123 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,960 no way that you are bridging that magician's gap for them. So they're not 124 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,159 going to be ready to buy when they land on the sales page. A 125 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,960 much more effective option is to live launch it a few times before putting it 126 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:26,759 on Evergreen and translating that live launch sales process into a fully automated version of 127 00:09:26,799 --> 00:09:33,720 the same process. Okay, the next mistake people make with launching is only 128 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,840 launching their product once. Your course, or your program, or your membership 129 00:09:37,879 --> 00:09:41,960 is an asset that can generate cash for your business over and over and over 130 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,200 again. Launching it once and then putting it on your website for people to 131 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:52,639 buy. Launching it once and leaving doors open for eternity. That usually doesn't 132 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,279 generate what sales the way that you intend it to, and it's probably because 133 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,519 you don't have much of a sales process behind it. Now, a launch 134 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:03,279 is a sen actually a sales process. That's what it really is. It 135 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,360 sounds so un sexy, but that is what a launch is, from start 136 00:10:05,399 --> 00:10:09,240 to finish, moving somebody from where they are to where they need to be 137 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,759 to be ready to buy. And yeah, you might do this with your 138 00:10:13,799 --> 00:10:16,720 existing audience with one launch, but what about new people who come into your 139 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:22,240 audience after that? How are you moving them through that gap. The next 140 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,799 mistake people make in their launches is not having a sales process all right, 141 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,639 Now, your entire sales process starts like sixty to ninety days before doors open. 142 00:10:31,799 --> 00:10:35,960 When I talk about your launch starts sixty to ninety days before doors open. 143 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,039 That's not you talking about your product for sixty to ninety days. That 144 00:10:39,159 --> 00:10:43,840 is your free content. Your free content is the start of your sales process. 145 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:48,440 And then you might have a webinar where you're still bridging that gap. 146 00:10:48,879 --> 00:10:50,960 You will have cart open emails, you will have a sales page, a 147 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:58,000 checkout. Your sales process is that entire process from your free content through until 148 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:00,960 they've purchased. And that is what makes up your lawn launch. It's not 149 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,279 just your sales page and checkout and a whole lot of hype building, but 150 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,080 it's actually where when you're talking about it, when you're talking about your product, 151 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,039 where are you sending them? How are you making sure that they've had 152 00:11:13,399 --> 00:11:16,120 that they've learned all of the things they need to know before they'll be ready 153 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,960 to buy. And then the last mistake I see people making with their launches 154 00:11:22,039 --> 00:11:26,639 is waiting until they have a bigger audience. Now you're not launching just once. 155 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,559 You are launching the same thing over and over again, so you don't 156 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,120 need to save up your audience until it's big enough to have one big launch. 157 00:11:33,639 --> 00:11:37,960 Your first few launches probably won't be huge unless you already have a large 158 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,480 audience. But this is a good thing because it's like learning to ride a 159 00:11:41,519 --> 00:11:46,200 bike in your driveway rather than on a main road. Your first launch can 160 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,039 be an experiment. You gather feedback, and then you implement that in the 161 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,960 next launch, and then again you launch again and again and again. And 162 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,399 this takes so much pressure off launching because it doesn't have to be this must 163 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:03,679 succeed at all costs kind of endeavor, but rather it's a learning experience that 164 00:12:03,759 --> 00:12:09,480 gets easier each time, that grows each time. And that's really those are 165 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,799 the biggest mistakes that I'm seeing at the moment. People are making these mistakes. 166 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:20,080 Lots of people are creating epic online courses, but just because it's an 167 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,399 epic online course, just because it's the most incredible group program or such a 168 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,720 great membership with loads of value in it, that doesn't mean people are going 169 00:12:28,759 --> 00:12:33,919 to buy it unless you can sell it. And we're not naturally taught how 170 00:12:33,919 --> 00:12:37,440 to sell, and selling doesn't come to us very easily for a lot of 171 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,240 us, and that's where launching comes in, like it's such a huge part 172 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:43,559 of it is selling, which I know feels really hard for a lot of 173 00:12:43,639 --> 00:12:48,000 us. So that is it for today's episode. Now, if you are 174 00:12:48,399 --> 00:12:54,200 thinking about launching sometimes soon, doors are opening to launch Magic on the thirteenth 175 00:12:54,279 --> 00:13:00,000 of June, which is coming up real soon. We only run it twice 176 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,600 a year and you can go and find out everything you need to know. 177 00:13:01,759 --> 00:13:05,039 Jump on the waitlist because we have an early bird bonus. You can find 178 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,159 that at stephtaylor dot co, slash Magic, or dm me on Instagram. 179 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:13,559 I'm there at stephtaylor dot co. Send me the word magic and I will 180 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,120 automatically add you to the waitlist. All right, that is it for today's 181 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,679 episode. Thank you so much for listening. Catch you next time.